The Morning Line by MyWinners: Pacific Classic. Alabama. Farewell, Sports Haven.
The weekly email newsletter from MyWinners - 08/21/2026
Hi Robin,
I'm writing this from BAR on Crown Street in New Haven, Connecticut's oldest brewpub, with a brick oven pepperoni pizza the size of a coffee table in front of me, and a cold beer that's disappearing faster than my self-control. If you haven't been to BAR, fix that. If you have, you already know. 🍕
This weekend is stacked. And I absolutely mean that. Pacific Classic Day at Del Mar. Alabama Day at Saratoga. Sun Stakes Saturday at Pocono Downs with over $2 million in harness stakes. The York Ebor Festival wrapping up with huge World Pool numbers to be won. The Premier League kicking off tonight. And a two-year-old named Inshallah that you need to know about.
But first, I need to talk about something closer to home.
→ WHAT'S ON THIS WEEK
Today (Fri Aug 21) 🏇 🇬🇧 York · Ebor Festival Nunthorpe Day · World Pool · 🇺🇸 Saratoga · Fleet Indian Stakes ($200K) 🏇 🇺🇸 The Meadows · PA Sire Stakes ($125K) · 🇨🇦 Woodbine Mohawk Park · Wellwood/Peaceful Way Elims
Tomorrow (Sat Aug 22) 🏇 🇺🇸 Del Mar · PACIFIC CLASSIC DAY · Pacific Classic (G1, $1M) + Del Mar Oaks (G1) + Del Mar Mile (G2) + Green Flash (G2) 🇺🇸 Saratoga · ALABAMA DAY · Alabama (G1, $600K) · Ballston Spa (G2, $300K) 🇺🇸 Pocono Downs · SUN STAKES SATURDAY · $2M+ harness card 🇬🇧 York · Ebor Day · World Pool · 🇨🇦 Century Mile · Canadian Derby Day
Sunday (Aug 23) 🏇 🇺🇸 Del Mar · Del Mar Derby (G2, $300K) · 🇺🇸 Saratoga · Albany Stakes ($200K) · 🇺🇸 Ellis Park · Closing Day
Wed (Aug 26) 🏇 🇺🇸 Saratoga · Bolton Landing Stakes ($200K) · Thu (Aug 27)🏇 🇺🇸 Saratoga · Skidmore Stakes ($200K)
Today 3pm ET Arsenal vs Coventry City · ⚽ Premier League Season Kick-off 🏈 Today NFL Preseason Week 2 · Jets at Steelers 7pm ET 🏈 Tomorrow Giants at Dolphins 4pm ET · Eagles at Patriots 7pm ET
→ 👋 FAREWELL, SPORTS HAVEN
They're knocking down Sports Haven. The end of an era on Long Wharf.
If you've bet with us for any amount of time, that sentence means something. The curved building on Long Wharf Drive in New Haven opened in 1979 (heck, its older than me) as Teletrack, the first off-track betting theater in the world. Movie-sized projection screens showing races from across the country. Servers who memorized your order. A shark tank, a real one, with actual sharks. Tony Falcone's 90-foot hand-painted mural stretching around the building. On Triple Crown days, the atmosphere was electric. Long-time employee Scotty put it best: "You didn't just watch a race here. You lived it."
Winners operated out of that building for nearly 50 years. Generations of Connecticut racing fans had their seat, their routine, their lucky spot by the bar. Regulars claimed the same chair for decades, arriving with handwritten notes and a coffee. Herbert Newman designed the building to look like nothing else on the shoreline. It didn't.
We closed SH and opened East Haven in November 2025. Criterion Group, the building's owner, has started the demolition. The mural, the screens, the memories: all coming down.
It matters because this is where we come from. MyWinners, Sportech, Winners: it all traces back to Long Wharf. Our new venue in the area is at 37 Frontage Road in East Haven, and is built for the future: better technology, Fanatics Sports Betting, 57 HD screens. But there will only ever be one Sports Haven.
Rob and documentary maker Travis Carbonella put together a proper farewell on the blog. Read the full piece here. If Sports Haven meant anything to you, it's worth your time.
⚠️ CARRYOVER ALERT: Two massive carryovers are live right now. A Jackpot 8 in Race 9 at Ellis Park for $324,763.29. And a Super Hi-5 in Race 12 at Woodbine Mohawk Park for $135,690.50. You're betting into today's pool but collecting money from others too. That's over half a million in guaranteed money sitting there waiting. Check the live carryovers on MyWinners. It's the best edge in pari-mutuel betting.
→ 🏇 ALABAMA DAY: COUNTING STARS CHASES A THIRD STRAIGHT G1 AT THE SPA
Saratoga on a Saturday in August. There isn't a better place to be in racing.
Counting Stars is the one to beat in the $600,000 Alabama Stakes, the signature summer race for three-year-old fillies. She won the Acorn. She won the CCA Oaks. A third straight Grade 1 on Saturday would make her the best filly in training by a margin nobody can argue with.
The field of six includes My Gun's Loaded, unbeaten this year, who broke her maiden at Saratoga by 4 1/4 lengths in June before winning a mile allowance by three lengths in July, and Casse stablemate Measure. Those two are the main threats on the morning line. Nycon, Ati Girl and A. P.'s Girl complete the lineup. Ballston Spa Stakes (G2, $300K) is also on the card. First post 12:35pm ET, with the Alabama going as Race 11 at 6:42pm ET.
👉 MY PICK OF THE WEEK: Natalie from our promo crew is here to make it official. My last two picks. Serenity won. Luster won. That's two straight winners, which means I'm due to give you a loser any minute now. Bet at your own risk.
🏇 Counting Stars will probably go off at 1/5 or shorter. Betting her to win pays almost nothing. But a $1 exacta keying Counting Stars on top over the other five horses costs $5. If My Gun's Loaded or a longshot fills the place spot, you're looking at a much better return than a win bet on a prohibitive favorite. That's the beauty of pari-mutuel exotics: when the public piles in on one horse, everyone else becomes a better price underneath.
→ 🏇 PACIFIC CLASSIC DAY: $1M G1 HEADLINES DEL MAR
Out west, Del Mar has its own answer. The Pacific Classic is the race where Flightline ran 19 1/4 lengths clear in 2022. Saturday's $1,000,000 Grade 1 renewal won't match that (nothing will), but 11 horses and a Breeders' Cup Classic berth on the line should produce plenty of drama.
Knightsbridge (5/2) is the morning line favorite for Godolphin and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott after winning the Monmouth Cup by 10 1/4 lengths. That was his first two-turn race. The question is whether he gets a mile and a quarter from the far outside post. Junior Alvarado rides. If he stays, this is his race.
Forged Steel (5/1) is the one with the distance already proven. Saffie Joseph Jr.'s Vekoma colt came west in May and took the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita by 9 1/2 lengths over this exact trip. Stumbled badly in the Suburban after that, but the Gold Cup form is the real thing.
Hit Show (6/1) is the 2025 Dubai World Cup winner with $9.5 million in career earnings. Brad Cox trains, Florent Geroux rides, and his sire Candy Ride won this race in 2003. He'll need pace to close into, and he should get it.
Finger (8/1) ships from Japan as a three-year-old Gun Runner colt. Won the Tokyo Derby in June. Unbeaten or placed in all eight starts. Japanese shippers don't cross the Pacific unless they think they can win.
Full Serrano, Navajo Warrior, Malarchuk, Subsanador, British Isles, Original Sin and Om N Joy (the lone filly, only the second to try this since Beholder won it in 2015) round out the field. The undercard is just as strong: Del Mar Oaks (G1, $300K), Del Mar Mile (G2, $300K), Green Flash Handicap (G2, $200K). Four graded stakes, one afternoon. First post 5pm ET, Pacific Classic 9:30pm ET.
→ 👀 HORSE TO WATCH: INSHALLAH
His name means "God willing" in Arabic. Based on last Saturday, God was willing.
Inshallah (NY) is a two-year-old Flightline colt who broke his maiden at Del Mar on Aug 15 in a way that makes you sit up and pay attention. He was the 3/5 favorite in a field of eight first-time starters, broke clean, put five lengths on the field by the three-furlong mark while the opening quarter ticked by in 21.52, and won wrapped up in 1:03.11 over five and a half furlongs. Joel Rosario never moved on him. The TDN gave him the Rising Star tag. The rest of the racing industry gave him a very long look.
Here's what makes it interesting. His sire, Flightline, was undefeated and the 2022 Horse of the Year. His dam, Bar of Gold, won the 2017 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at 66/1 at Del Mar. Same track. Same dirt. Inshallah was the $2.1 million topper at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale, purchased by bloodstock agent Pedro Lanz for KAS Stables. He's trained by John Sadler.
This is not a tip. I'm not going to tell you to back a two-year-old off one start. But if you want a name to follow from now through October, this is it. Sadler will likely stretch him to six and a half furlongs in September before pointing him at the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Halloween weekend. The speed and the class are there. Whether the distance comes, we'll find out soon.
The Pacific Classic, Flightline's race, is tomorrow. Flightline's son could be running at that same track for the Breeders' Cup in ten weeks. Worth watching.
→ HARNESS: SUN STAKES SATURDAY
Over $2 million in purses tomorrow afternoon at Pocono Downs: Earl Beal Jr. Memorial ($300K), Max C. Hempt Memorial ($300K), James M. Lynch Memorial ($250K), Delmonica Hanover ($250K). Fourteen races, first post 2:30pm ET. If you bet harness, clear your Saturday afternoon.
→ MORE RACING THIS WEEKEND
🇬🇧 York Ebor Festival. Today: G1 Nunthorpe, G2 Lonsdale Cup, G2 Gimcrack. Tomorrow: G1 City of York, Sky Bet Ebor. Both days on World Pool.
🇺🇸 Del Mar. Del Mar Derby (G2, $300K) Sunday.
🇺🇸 Saratoga. Albany Stakes ($200K) Sunday. Bolton Landing ($200K) Wednesday. Skidmore ($200K) Thursday.
🇨🇦 Century Mile. Canadian Derby (G3, C$200K) and Century Casino Oaks (C$100K) Saturday.
🇺🇸 Ellis Park. Closing Day Sunday. Ellis Park Turf Stakes ($175K).
→ ⚽ SPORTS: THE PREMIER LEAGUE IS BACK
The wait is over. Arsenal vs Coventry City kicks off the 2026/27 Premier League season tonight at 3pm ET. Saturday: Hull City vs Manchester United, Brentford vs Tottenham, Nottingham Forest vs Leeds. Sunday: Newcastle vs Liverpool, Manchester City vs Bournemouth.
Chelsea don't play until Monday. Fulham away. Arsenal won the league last season and I'd like that to stop. But here are my picks for the season. Hold me to them.
Arsenal vs Coventry City kicks off the 2026/27 Premier League season
Here's Tommy from our promo team, who's enjoying my pain far too much.
👉 My Premier League Picks: 🏆 League winner: Arsenal (+160 to win the title). You wouldn't believe how brutal writing this is. But, as much as it pains me to say it, they're the best squad in England right now by some margin. Top four finish: Arsenal, Manchester City (-350 to finish top four), Manchester United (-190), Chelsea (+120). 🏆 FA Cup: Chelsea (+800). This is our year for a cup run. 🏆 League Cup: Chelsea (+800). Both cups. I said what I said. ⬇️ Relegation: Coventry City, Hull City, Ipswich Town. All three promoted teams going straight back down. The Championship is a different sport. Even though I'm rooting for Super Frank at Coventry.
Season-long bets available now at all MyWinners venues.
NFL Preseason Week 2. Tonight: Jets at Steelers (7pm ET), Packers at Broncos (9pm ET). Saturday: Giants at Dolphins, 4pm ET. Fantasy draft parties still booking at both Bobby V's.
Next week we'll write up our NFL hot picks for the season.
→ THIS WEEK'S PROMOS 💸
Leon's spending continues to rival that of Floyd Mayweather in his heyday.
Boost Your Bankroll at Saratoga carries on. Bet $157+ on any qualifying Friday at the Spa, earn a $5 bonus credited on Mid Summer Derby Day (Aug 29). Stack every Friday for $35 by Travers weekend. Win, place and exotic bets count. MyWinners online only.
Bet and Get at Finger Lakes and Mountaineer Park.
Cashback this week: 3% on US and Canadian harness, 4% on Australian greyhound.
$2K Exotic Cash Splash. Opt in and cash exotics for your shot at a share of $2,000. Opt-in to the Cash Splash Here.
Pacific Classic. Alabama. Sun Stakes. The Ebor. The Premier League. And a two-year-old named "God willing." Best weekend of the summer. Also happy birthday to Robert, 51 today, and Tristan, 30 today, two of our own.
See you at the rail.
Mike B
VIP & Community, MyWinners
Tel: +1800 468 2260 (support)
P.S. Small stakes, big wins. If you've been winning with us this summer, we want to hear about it. Send your tickets, your screenshots, your stories. From all over the country. The best ones get a shoutout in next week's Morning Line. Tag us online or reply to this email.
P.P.S. Rob's output on the blog continues to be frankly ludicrous. Help him get out of the house by reading the content. This man lives for clicks and feedback: Alabama Day Betting Guide · Claiming Crown Qualifiers Guide.
P.P.P.S. Tonight's Mega Millions is around $48 million. Saturday's Powerball is around $40 million. Neither will break the internet, but I'm still buying. Tickets available at all nine MyWinners venues.
